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02 - The Theory of Psychoanalysis - Carl Jung · Logic Library

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To the infantile sexuality. The precocious manifestations of sexual fantasy as cause of the
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shock now seemed to be the source of neurosis. This logically attributed to children
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of far more developed sexuality than had been hitherto admitted. Many cases of precocious
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sexuality had been recorded in literature long before the time of psychoanalysis, for instance,
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a girl of two years old with normal menstruation, or cases of boys
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of three in four and five years of age having normal erections and so far
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ready for cohabitation. These were, however, curiosities. Great astonishment was caused
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when Freud began to attribute to the child not only ordinary sexuality, but even
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polymorphic perverse sexuality, all this based upon the most exhaustive investigation. People inclined
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much too lightly to the supervicial view that all this was merely suggested to the
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patients and was a highly disputable artificial product. Hence, Freud's three contributions to
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the sexual theory not only provoked opposition, but even violent indignation. It is
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surely unnecessary to insist upon the fact that science is not furthered by indignation,
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and that arguments a moral resentment may perhaps please the moralist, that is his
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business, but not a scientific man, for whom truth must be the guide,
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and not moral indignation. If matters are really as Freud describes them,
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all indignation is absurd. If they are not so, again, indignation will
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avail nothing. The conclusion as to what is the truth can only be arrived
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at on the field of observation and research, and nowhere else. The opponents
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of psychoanalysis, with certain honorable exceptions, display rather ludicrously, somewhat pitifully inadequate
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realization of the situation. Although the psychoanalytics school could unfortunately learn nothing from their
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critics, as the criticism took notice of its investigations, and although it could
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not get any useful hints because the psychoanalytic method of investigation was and still is
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unknown to these critics. It remains a serious duty for our school to explain
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thoroughly the contrast between the existing conceptions. It is not our endeavor to put
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forward a paradoxical theory contradicting all existing theories, but rather to introduce a certain
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category of new observations into science. Therefore, we regard it is a duty
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to do whatever we can to promote agreement. It is true we must renounce
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all hope of obtaining the approval of those who blindly oppose us, But we
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do hope to come to an understanding with scientific men. This will be my
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endeavor now in attempting to sketch the further intellectual development of the psychoanalytic conception,
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so far as the so called sexual theory of the neuroses is concerned. Objections
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to the sexual hypothesis. As I said, the finding of precocious sexual fantasies,
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which seemed the source of the neurosis, forced Freud to the view of
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a highly developed sexuality in infancy. As you know, the reality of this
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observation has been contested by many who maintain that crude error, that narrow minded
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delusion, misled Freud and his whole school alike in Europe and in America,
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so that the Freudians saw things that never existed. They regarded them as people
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in the grip of an intellectual epidemic. I have to admit that I possess
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no way of defending myself against criticism of this kind. The only thing I
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can do is to refer to my own work, asking thoughtful persons if they
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discover there any clear indications of madness. Moreover, I must maintain that science
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has no right to start with the idea that certain facts do not exist.
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At the most one can say this seems very improbable. We want still more
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proofs and more research. This is also our reply to the objection it is
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impossible to discover anything trustworthy by the psychoanalytic method, as this method is practically
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absurd. No one believed in Galileo's telescope, and Columbus discovered America on our
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false hypothesis. The psychoanalytic method may be full of errors, but this should
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not prevent its use. Many chronological and medical observations have been made with inadequate
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instruments. We must regard the objections to the method as pretexts. Until our
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opponents come to grip with the facts, it is there a decision must be
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reached, not by wordy warfare. Our opponents also called hysteria a psychogenic disease.
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We believe that we have discovered the theological determinants of this disease, and
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we present without fear the results of our investigation to open criticism. Whoever cannot
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accept our results should publish his own analyses of cases, so far as I
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know, that has never been done, at least not in European literature.
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Under the circumstances, critics have no right to deny our conclusions a priori.
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Our opponents have likewise cases of hysteria, and those cases are surely as psychogenic
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as our own. There is nothing to prevent their pointing out the psychological determinants.
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The method is not the real question. Our opponents content themselves with disputing
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and reviling our researches, but they do not point out any better way.
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Many other critics are more careful and more just, and do admit that we
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have made many valuable observations, and that the associations of ideas given by the
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psychoanalytic method will very probably stand. But they maintain that our point of view
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is wrong. The alleged sexual fantasies of childhood with which we are here chiefly
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concerned must not be taken, they say as real sexual functions, being obviously
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something quite different, since that the approach of puberty the characteristic peculiarities of sexuality
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are acquired. This objection, being calmly and reasonably made, deserves to be
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taken seriously. Such objections must also have occurred to everyone who has taken up
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analytic work, and there is reason enough for deep reflection the conception of sexuality.
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The first difficulty arises with the conception of sexuality. If we take sexuality
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as meaning the fully developed function, we must confine this phenomenon to maturity,
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and then, of course we have no right to speak of sexuality in childhood.
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If we so limit our conception, then we are confronted again with new
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and much greater difficulties. The question arises, how then must we denominate all
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those correlated biological phenomena pertaining to the sexual functions sense to strictiori, as,
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for instance, pregnancy, birth, natural selection, protection of the offspring,
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etc. It seems to me that all this belongs to the conception of sexuality
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as well, although a very distinguished colleague did once say childbirth is not a
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sexual act. But if these things do pertain to this concept of sexuality,
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then there must also belong innumerable psychological phenomena, For we know that an incredible
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number of the pure psychological functions are connected with this sphere. I shall only
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mention the extraordinary importance of fantasy in the preparation for the sexual function. Thus
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we arrive rather at a biological conception of sexuality, which includes both a series
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of psychological phenomena as well as a series of physiological functions. If we might
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be allowed to make use of an old but practical classification, we might identify
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sexuality with the so called instinct of the preservation of the species, as opposed
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in some way to the instinct of self preservation. Looking at sexuality from this
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point of view, we shall not be astonished to find that the root of
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the instinct of race preservation, so extraordinarily important in nature, goes much deeper
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than the limited conception of sexuality would ever allow. Only the more or less
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grown up cat actually catches mice, but the kitten plays at least as if
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it were catching mice. The young dog's playful indications of attempts at cohabitation begin
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long before puberty. We have a right to suppose that mankind is no exception
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to this rule. Although we do not notice similar things on the surface,
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and are well brought up children, investigation of the children of the lower classes
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proves that they are no exceptions to the biological rule. It is of course
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infinitely more probable that this most important instinct, that of the preservation of the
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race, is already nascent in the earliest childhood, than that it falls at
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once swoop from heaven full fledged at the age of puberty. The sexual organs
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also developed long before the slightest sign of their future function can be noticed.
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Where the psychoanalytic school speaks of sexuality, this wider conception of its function must
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be linked to it, and we do not mean simply that physical sensation and
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function generally designated by the term sexual. It might be said that, in
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order to avoid any misunderstanding on this point, the term sexuality should not be
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given to these preparatory phenomena in childhood. This demand is surely not justified,
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since the anatomical nomenclature is taken from the fully developed system, and special names
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are not generally given to more or less rudimentary formations. After all, the
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objections to the terminology do not spring so much from objective arguments as from those
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tendencies which lie at the base of moral indignation. But then no objection can
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be made to the sex terminology of Freud, as he rightly gives to the
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whole sexual development. The general name of sexuality, but certain conclusions have been
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drawn which, so far as I can see, cannot be maintained the sexuality
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of the suckling. When we examine how far back in childhood the first traces
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of sexuality reach, we have to admit implicitly that sexuality already exists, oh
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Wote, but only becomes manifest a long time after intrauterine life. Freud is
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inclined to see in the function of taking the mother's breast already a kind of
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sexuality. Freud was bitterly reproached for this view, but it must be admitted
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that it is very ingenious if we follow his zypeypothesis that the instinct of the
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preservation of the race has existed separately from the instinct of self preservation ab ovo,
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and has undergone a separate development. This way of thinking is not,
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however, a biological one. It is not possible to separate the two ways
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of manifestation of the hypothetical vital process and to credit each with a different order
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of development. If we limit ourselves to judging by what we can actually observe,
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we must reckon with the fact that everywhere in nature we see that the
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vital processes in an individual consists for a considerable space of time in the functions
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of nutrition and growth only. We see this very clearly in many animals,
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for instance in butterflies, which as caterpillars pass and a sexual existence of nutrition
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and growth to this stage of life. We may allot both the intra uterine
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life and the extra uterine time of suckling in man marked by the absence of
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all sexual function. Hence, to speak of manifest sexuality in the suckling would
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be a contradicteo in adjecto. The most we can do is to ask if
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among the life functions of the suckling there are any that have not the character
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of nutrition or of growth, and hence could be termed sexual. Freud points
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out the unmistakable emotion and satisfaction of the child while suckling, and compares this
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process with that of the sexual act. This similarity leads him to assume the
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sexual quality in the act of suckling. This conclusion is only admissible if it
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can be proved that the tension of the need and its gratification by a release
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is a sexual process, that the act of cuckling has this emotional mechanism proves,
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however, just the contrary. Therefore, we can only say this emotional
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mechanism is found both in nutrition and in the sexual function. Analogy deduces the
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sexual quality of sucking from this emotional mechanism, then his biological empiricism would also
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justify the terminology qualifying the sexual act as a function of nutrition. This is
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unjustifiably exceeding the bounds. In either case, it is evident that the act
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of sucking cannot be qualified as sexual. We are aware, however, of
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functions in the sucking stage which have apparently nothing to do with the function of
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nutrition, such as sucking the finger and its many variations. This is perhaps
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the place to discuss whether these things belong to the sexual sphere. These acts
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do not subserve nutrition, but produce pleasure. Of that there is no doubt.
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But nevertheless, it is disputable whether this pleasure which comes sucking should be
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called by analogy of sexual satisfaction. It might be called equally pleasure by nutrition.
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This latter qualification as even the further justification that the form and kind of
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pleasure belong entirely to the function of nutrition. The hand which is used for
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sucking finds in this way preparation for future use in feeding one's self. Under
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these circumstances, nobody will be inclined by a petitio principe to characterize the first
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manifestation of human life as sexual. The statement which we make that the active
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sucking is attended by a feeling of satisfaction leaves us in doubt whether the sucking
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does contain anything else but the character of nutrition. We notice that the so
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called bad habits shown by a child as it grows up are closely linked with
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early infantile sucking, such for instance, as putting the finger in the mouth,
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biting the nails, picking the nose, ears, etc. We see
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too, how closely these habits are connected with later masturbation by analogy. The
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conclusion of these infantile habits are the first step to onanism or to action similar
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to onanism. Are therefore of a well marked sexual character cannot be denied.
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It is perfectly justified. I've seen many cases in which a correlation existed between
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these child these habits and later masturbation. If this masturbation takes place in later
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childhood, before puberty, it is nothing but an infantile bad habit. From
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the fact of the correlation between masturbation and the other childish bad habits, we
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conclude that these habits have a sexual character insofar as they are used to obtain
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physical satisfaction from the child's own body. This new standpoint is comprehensible and perhaps
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necessary. It is only a few steps from this point of view to regarding
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the infant's active sucking as of a sexual character. As you know, Freud
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took the few steps, but you have just heard me reject them. We
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have come to a difficulty which is very hard to solve. It would be
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relatively easy if we could accept too instinct side by side, each entity in
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itself. Then the act of sucking the breast would be both an action of
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nutrition and a sexual act. This seems to be Freud's conception. We find
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in adults the two instincts separated yet existing side by side. Or rather,
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we find that there are two manifestations in hunger and in the sexual instinct.
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But at the second age we find only the function of nutrition rewarded by both
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pleasure and satisfaction. Its sexual character can only be argued by a petitio prinkipee.
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For the fact, show that the act of sucking is the first to
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give pleasure, not the sexual function. Obtaining pleasure is by no means identical
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with sexuality ourselves. If we think that in the suckling both instincts exist side
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by side, for then we project into the psyche of the child the facts
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taken from the psychology of adults. The existence of the two instincts side by
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side does not occur in suckling, for one of these instincts has no existence
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as yet, or if existing, is quite rudimentary. If we are to
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regard the striving for pleasure as something sexual, we might as well say paradoxically
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that hunger is a sexual striving, for this instinct seeks pleasure by satisfaction.
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If this were true, we should have to give our opponents permission to apply
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the terminology of hunger to sexuality. It would facilitate matters were it possible to
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maintain that both instincts exist at side by side, But it contradicts the observed
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facts and would lead to untenable consequences. Before I try to resolve this opposition,
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I must first say something more about freud Its sexual theory and its transformations.
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The polymorphic perverse sexuality of infancy, we have already reached the conclusion setting
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out from the idea of the shock being apparently due to sexual fantasies that the
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child must have, in contradiction to the views hitherto prevailing a nearly fully formed
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sexuality and even a polymorphic perverse sexuality. Its sexuality does not seem concentrated on
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the genital functions or on the other sex, but is occupied with its own
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body. Whence it is said to be auto erotic. If its sexual instinct
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is directed to another person, no distinction or but the very slightest is made
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as to sex, It can therefore be very easily homosexual. In place of
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non existing local sexual function, there exists a series of so called bad habits,
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which from this standpoint look like a series of perversities, since they have
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the closest analogy with the later perversities. In consequence of this way of regarding
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the subject, sexuality, whose nature is ordinarily regarded as a unit, becomes
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decomposed into a multiplicity of isolated striving forces. Freud then arrived at the conception
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of the so called erogenous zones, by which he understood moleskin Anus, etc.
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It is, of course a universal tacit presumption that sexuality has its origin
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in the sexual organs. The term erogenous zone reminds us of spasmogenic zones,
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and the underlying image at all events the same. Just as the spasmogenic zone
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is the place whence the spasm arises, so the erogenous zone is the place
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whence arises an affluent to sexuality. Based upon the model of the genital organs
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as the anatomical origin of sexuality, the erogenous zones must be conceived as being
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so many genitals out of which the streams of sexuality flow together. This is
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the condition of the polymorphic perverse sexuality of childhood. The expression perverse seems to
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be justified by the close analogy with the later perversities, which present, so
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to speak, but a new edition of certain early infantile perverse habits. They
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are very often connected with one or other of the different erogenous zones, and
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are the cause of those exchanges in sects which are so characteristic for childhood.
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According to this view, the later normal and monomorphic sexuality is built up out
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of several components. The first division is into homo and heterosexual components, to
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which is linked an autoerotic component, as also there are components of the different
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erogenous zones. This conception can be compared with the position of physics. Before
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Robert Mayer, we only isolated forces having elementary qualities were recognized, whose interchanges
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were little understood. The law of the conservation of energy brought order into the
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inter relationship of the forces, at the same time abolishing the conception of those
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forces as absolute elements, but regarding them as interchangeable manifestations of one and the
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same energy. The sexual components as energic manifestations. Conceptions of great importance do
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not arise only in one brain, but are floating in the air and appear
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in there, appearing even under other forms and in other regions where it is
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often very difficult to recognize the common fundamental idea. Thus it happened with us
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spitting up of sexuality into the polymorphic perverse sexuality of childhood. Experience forces us
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to accept a constant exchange of isolated components, as we notice more and more
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that, for instance, perversities exist at the expense of normal sexuality, or
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that the increase of certain kinds of sex manifestations causes corresponding deficiencies of another kind.
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To make the matter clearer, let me give you an instance. A
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young man had a homosexual phase, lasting for some years, during which time
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women had no interest for him. This abnormal condition changed gradually toward his twentieth
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year, and his erotic interests became more and more normal. He began to
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take great interest in girls, and soon the last traces of his homo sexuality
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were conquered. This condition lasted several years, and he had some successful love
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affairs. Then he wished to get married. He had here to suffer a
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great disappointment, as the girl to whom he proposed refused him. During the
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ensuing phase, he absolutely abandoned the idea of marriage. After that, he
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experienced a dislike of all women, and one day he discovered that he was
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again perfectly homosexual, that his young men had unusually irritating influence upon him.
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To regard sexuality is composed of a fixed heterosexual component and a like homo sexual
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element will never suffice to explain this case, for the conception of the existence
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of fixed components excludes any kind of transformation. To understand the case, we
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have to admit a great mobility of the sexual components, which even goes so
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far that one of the components can practically disappear completely whilst the other comes to
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the front. If only substitution took place, If, for instance, the
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homosexual component and to the unconscious, leaving the field of consciousness to the heterosexual
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component, modern scientific knowledge would lead us to conclude that equivalent effects arose from
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the unconscious sphere. Those effects would have to be conceived as resistances against the
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activity of the heterosexual component, as a repugnance towards women. Experience tells us
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nothing about this. There have been some small traces as of influences of this
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kind, but of such slight intensity that they cannot be compared with the intensity
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of the former homosexual component. On the conception that has been outlined, It
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is also incomprehensible how this homosexual component, regarded as so firmly fixed, can
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never disappear without leaving active traces to explain things. The process of development is
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called in forgetting that this is only a word and explains nothing. You see
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therefore the urgent necessity of an adequate explanation of such a change of scene.
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For this we must have a dynamic hypothesis. Such commutations are only conceivable as
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dynamic or energy processes. I cannot conceive how manifestations of functions can disappear if
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I do not accept a change in the relation of one force to another.
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For its theory did have regard to this necessity. In the conception of components.
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The presumption of isolated functions existing side by side began to be somewhat weakened,
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more in practice than theoretically. It was replaced by an energic conception.
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The term chosen for this conception is libido. End of Chapter two